How prepared are workers to complete tasks in the 21st century?
This was my final project submission for the course S054: Making Data Count: Asking and Answering Questions with Data taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Imagine that you are planning a party and have sent out email invitations. In your email inbox, you have gathered the responses to the invite and have a set of folders. You need to sort the “Yes” and “No” responses into the appropriate folder. This scenario may seem like a relatively straightforward task. But 45% of respondents who attempted this question for the Survey of Adult Skills either incorrectly or only partially answered.
This result should concern governments and business leaders. The 21st century world of work will require workers to be better versed in using digital tools and have strong non-routine cognitive skills to process and navigate information. Yet a large percentage of adults in OECD member countries are operating at a basic level in this domain. A workforce which lacks skills that are becoming increasingly fundamental will have both social and economic consequences for workers and industries.

Using questions like the one described above, the Survey of Adult Skills measures respondents’ problem-solving ability in technology-rich environments (PSTRE). It defines this domain as “using digital technology, communication tools and networks to acquire and evaluate information, communicate with others and perform practical tasks.” 1 The survey, designed by the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, has been conducted in over 40 countries and measures the literacy, numeracy and PSTRE skills of people ages 16 to 65. Scores for PSTRE are between 0 and 500, and there are four benchmarks. Those scoring “Below Level 1” can complete simple, well-defined tasks which require few steps to solve and use a generic interface. The highest proficiency is Level 3, which translates to being able to complete complex, multi-step tasks which may require respondents to make use of specific functions and evaluate the relevance or reliability of information.
The graph above shows average PSTRE scores for the 33 OECD member countries with this data. Upper-middle- and high-income nations such as Japan, Finland and Sweden have as much as a 70 point higher average PSTRE score compared to lower income countries, such as Ecuador, Peru, and Turkey. While the difference may be unsurprising given the positive relationship between development and ICT penetration, 2 a nation’s GNI does not necessarily mean its citizens are better prepared to perform well. The United States has nearly 20% of respondents scoring “Below Level 1” which can be seen in the map below. This proportion is comparable to Estonia.
Two thirds of countries surveyed had the majority of individuals scoring at Level 1 proficiency
Select different proficiency levels to see variations across and between countries